Sarangapani Koil Kodukkumudi Sevai

No water outlet inside the office forces the Prabhandham Scholars to sit in the dirt for their Seva Kalam recital in the evening 

Every year on the occasion of Thai Amavasai, Lord Sarangapani, the utsavar deity of the Aaravamudhan Divya Desam in Thiru Kudanthai provides Serthi Darshan with Komalavalli Thaayar at the erstwhile Ekadasi Mandapam at the Eastern entrance of the temple. It is the only day in the year when Komalavalli Thaayar provides Kodukkumudi Sevai to devotees.

It is 7am on the morning of the No Moon Day in Thai. Several hundreds of devotees have lined up for the Vishroopam Sevai, a large number of a Monday morning at the Sarangapani koil.

As marketing of temples and utsavam took shape over the last two decades, authorities came up with interesting combos. This one was a pretty special one. Amavasai is one of the special occasions every month at temples. The one that comes in Thai gained prominence being one ranked sacred for Tharpanam.

Two more additional features marked this year’s Thai Amavasai making it an all time special occasion!!! It was also the Shravanam day of the month and it fell on a Sunday. Hence, devotees saw this as a ‘Soma Vaara Thai Amavasai Shravanam’ occasion.

Just before 12noon, Komalavalli Thayar made her way to the ‘once upon a time’ Ekadasi mandapam, opposite the Vasantha Mandapam. Shortly after, Sarangapani Perumal too joined her. Being the Shravanam day, Vedantha Desikar too made his way to the erstwhile mandapam. 

With the growth in powers of the HR & CE, the Ekadasi mandapam has now been converted into an office housing the EO and the staff members of the HR & CE yet another example of how heritage structures and sacred locations inside temples have been used up by the HR & CE. It would rank as a one of a kind utsavam of a ‘Serthi Sevai’ of a Divya Desam couple at an (HR & CE) office within the temple complex.

Rule 8 and 9 of Temple Entry Authorisation Act 1947 states that no new structure can come up inside the temple complex especially at a heritage centuries old temple and that none of the mandapams can be used or converted for a purpose other than the one for which it was historically used. 

Says TR Ramesh, President, Temple Worshippers Society, who has taken on the HR & CE and filed a number of cases in the High Court against the construction of new and additional structures in ancient temples, “The construction of the temple office at the historical mandapam at the Eastern Entrance as well as the building of the toilet just next to the temple office within the complex is illegal and in gross violation of the Act. This illegal structure of the office and the toilet has to be removed, similar to how the huge toilet complex within the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple was removed a couple of years ago and the mandapam has to be brought to its historical state.”

For over thirty minutes, one witnessed the Shataari Thirumanjanam (of Lord and Thaayar) at the HR & CE office, with the sacred abhisekam water flowing out on to Vedantha Desikar who was placed on a small stool on the floor.

What was saddening in the 2^nd half of the day was the two hour Kodukkumudi alankaram for Komalavalli Thaayar performed by Narayana Bhattar and subsequently the alankaram for Lord Sarangapani with the divine couple flanked by Almirahs and tall Bureaus at the office. While one is normally accustomed to priests undertaking alankaram within the four closed screens, here what one witnessed was a sacred once in a year alankaram of Thaayar with the office almirahs as the cover!!! HR & CE staffers kept moving in and out of the office during the alankaram with the priests remaining silent spectators. 

By 5pm, the seva kalam experts arrived at the temple to present the sacred verses in front of the divine couple and the Vaishnavite acharya. With no outlet at the HR & CE office to let go the Thirumanjanam water, the remains stagnated at the entrance of the office. While the water was removed through a mopping activity, the dirt on the floor of the office combined with the Thirumanjanam water to create filth leaving very little clean space for the prabhandham experts for their recital!!!

Following the presentation of Koil Tiruvoimozhi and Desikar Prabhandham at the HR & CE office and after the devotees had had a close look at the alankaram, the Lord made his shortly after 830pm around the Potramarai Kulam.

While historically the speciality of the day was the Kodukkumudi Sevai with the long Jadai of Komalavalli Thaayar knotted in such a way that the far end reaches out to Lord Sarangapani. Unfortunately, the old one is in a damaged condition while the new one could not be made in time for the utsavam. Hence the priests had to make do with a simple knotted style on the head and devotees missed the long curling Jadai of Komalavalli Thaayar reaching out to the Lord.

Just after 9pm, the divine couple exchanged garlands in front of the Thaayar Sannidhi bringing to end this annual Thai Amavasai utsavam that is now celebrated at the HR & CE office. 

Historically, it has also been the practice at the Sarangapani Koil for the Lord to make his way on the morning of Thai Amavasai for the Theerthavari Utsavam at the Cauvery. But this too has been done away with in recent decades after the entry of the HR & CE.

At the tail end of the day, there was a shortage of Sripatham Thangis to carry Vaishnavite Acharya Vedantha Desikar on the Shravanam procession inside the temple, a sad reflection of the current scenario at this ancient Divya Desam that not too long ago was vibrant with traditionalists making up the long agraharam in front of the temple.